Additional School Aid May Be Used For Tax Relief In Next Budget Cycle

The Lacey Township Board of Education is leaning towards utilizing the hundreds of thousands in extra state aid towards tax relief in 2012-13, said President Jack Martenak.

The state announced on Tuesday, July 12 that school districts throughout New Jersey would be receiving additional state aid. than originally expected.

"At this time the board has taken no formal action on the additional state aid and certainly we are leaning in the direction of using it in the 2012-13 budget. I believe that is the consensus of the five board members who are in town but we have two board members who are out of town and out of touch," Martenak said.

As of the school board meeting on Monday, July 18, Martenak could not comment on what they planned to do with the money and said they were still waiting for further direction from the state.

Districts had several options in using the additional state aid but were encouraged to use the funds toward tax relief.

Districts could use the money to decrease the 2011-12 tax levy; appropriate the funds and revise the 2011-12 budget to include increased spending; wait until the following year to appropriate the aid; or they could approve a combination of these.

"We still need some clarification on how this money gets treated in the future years budget. It’s not clear how it is treated as surplus," Martenak said.

The school district will receive the money during the upcoming school year, Savage said. The funds would then go into surplus and be appropriated into tax relief for 2012-13.

“It will in essence lower taxes because you’re using surplus instead of taxes,” Savage said.

Although the aid could have been used for tax relief in 2011-12, the deadline to adjust the tax levy is today, July 19 at 4 p.m. The tax levy for the upcoming year will remain at $39,413,121.

To be able to use the extra funds for this school year, the district would have had to revise the budget, fill out a certification of school taxes, send the revisions to the county and modify the tax bills, Savage said.

“Because our budget was set with a zero percent tax increase this year, let’s help the tax rate next year,” Savage said.

In February, the state announced that , a one-year increase of $612,488. Lacey Township is now slated to receive $20,780,222, which is $1,224,977 more than last year.

Depending on the deadline provided by the states for school districts to make a decision, the school board may make a formal decision at the Aug. 15 meeting.

To see the options laid out for districts by the state, see the PDF included in this story.